Thread: would like to have some advice of DE razors

I started my wet shaving journey with DE's, and I still use them every time I shave, even if it's just to shave my head and touch up the face. Some days, when I'm in a rush, I'll turn to the DE's for the entire shave.

I have 4, all Gillettes, 2 adjustable. One is a Slim, another is a Black Beauty long handled adjustable. Then, I have Tech and a Superspeed. For me, the non-adjustables tend to be my favorites, but I love my Slim and BB as well. They all balance differently, shave differently. If I want a close shave, I'll grab my Black Beauty. If I'm concerned about comfort, I'll reach for the Tech or the SS. As Srdjan said, the blades make a huge difference. I tend to go with Feathers and Astra Platinums as my daily drivers. Find the right blade, and a so-so DE can become an absolute dream to use.

I prefer vintage DE's, just as I prefer vintage straights. But, I have several friends who love their Mongoose's (Mongeese????), Razorock Slants, Merkurs, etc. Find what works best for you. And, what I've found is that, even though I enjoy my DE shaves, I end up wishing that I'd had the time to use a straight instead

The advantage that an adjustable DE has is that it will let you adjust the blade gap to suit your skin and your skill level without buying multiple fixed blade razors till you get one fixed blade razor that you like. It is possible that if you buy a fixed blade DE that is a mild shaver that as your skill level improves you may go looking for a more aggressive one to give you a more satisfying shave. You can go through quite a few till you find one you like.

I started using a Gillette Fat Boy set @6, a medium setting for aggressiveness, but finished off at 9 using a feather blade after using a straight razor taught me the importance of no weight and the right angle. I could have stayed with that one DE but did not.

I did learn that I like very aggressive DEs/SEs to get a satisfying shave. There are many ways to go.

If you like aggressive DEs, then some vintage Gillette OCs, the Fatip, Muhle R41 2013 version, Wolfman OC head with the blade gap set to 0.74 and a few others will fit the bill. The Merkur slant is very close in performance to those and I would not call it aggressive but more efficient because of it's slant head design. The Merkur slant is a really well balanced DE.

Bob

I would tell anyone who asked me to skip DE's and get an SE razor instead, in my opinion a superior shave, my Ever Ready 1912 is my favorite non straight shaving tool, just fabulous and cheap as chips !

best regards

john

Right now I think the Mongoose SE is about as good as it gets with the perfect balance between a great shave and not too aggressive.

i don't like SE razors. you need to change the sense of blade after shaving.

Originally Posted by Oustoura

i don't like SE razors. you need to change the sense of blade after shaving.

Sorry, not understanding what you are meaning here.

Bob

Sorry I meant even if I use a SE I'll need to put a DE blade inside right? So after used a side of the blade I have change the blade's side to use which is not used.

Originally Posted by Oustoura

Sorry I meant even if I use a SE I'll need to put a DE blade inside right? So after used a side of the blade I have change the blade's side to use which is not used.

No, SE razors don't use DE blades. Some are like these below.

I started wet shaving with a Dovo stainless straight. Some of the customers that came into the Knife Shop I work part time in talked about using double edge. I had to give it a try. I just continued to bid on Ebay until I purchased a nice clean Gillette Slim Adjustable at a reasonable price. I now have three that I didn't pay more then 40.00 for. I think the cheapest was purchased for 19.95.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

No, SE razors don't use DE blades. Some are like these below.

Oh OK. I did not know the blades. The first one is a feather I think but for shavettes ?